Cardholder for index devices



May 1, 1951 w. LANG 2,551,213

cARDHoLDER`FoR` INDEX DEVICES Filed sept. 14, 1945 s sheets-sheet 1INVEN TOR.

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. CARDHOLDER FoR INDEX -DEvIcEs Filed sept. 14, 1945 3 sheets-sheet 5VAA- IIN", 4...

IN V EN TOR.

l Arme/v51( Patented May 1,1951

cAEDHoLDER Fon INDEX DEVICES William Lang, Verona, N. J., assignor toThe Bates Manufacturing Company, West Orange, N. J., va corporation ofNew Jersey Application September 14, 1945, Serial No. 616,244

Claims.

Mv invention relates to index devices by which ready reference may behad to a list of telephone numbers, addresses, recipes, or otherClassifiable matter. More particularly, it is directed to a holder for agroup of loose cards superimposed upon each other, one or more of whichis reserved for a single classication and which may readily be opened atany desired point for reference such as shown in Patent No. 2,341,983.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a card holder in whichthe card supporting hooks are adapted to be swung to a position remotefrom the connection between the cover and base with their free endsexposed for readily and easily connecting or disconnecting loose cardstherefrom.

Another object is to provide such a holder 1nV which the card supportinghooks are adapted to be swung to a position encircling thehinge rod ofthe cover for providing a substantially common center of swing for thecards and cover and for preventing displacement of the cards.

A further object is to provide a holder for cards wherein no obstructionis placed upon the hooks to tear the cards and the cards will beprotected when the holder is being opened.

Yet another object is to provide a holder Whereby one or several cardsmay be turned back to lie perfectly at thus giving complete access toany matter upon the cards and presenting the cards in the best positionfor Writing or working upon the same. v

A further object is to provide a device of this character which issimple in construction, economical to manufacture and highly elfectivein use.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from thefollowing description thereof taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment ofmy improved device with the cover in raised or open position and thepile of index `cards indicated in dot-dash lines.

the cards turned up.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of the right hand end of Figure 4 with thecover closed.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view showing the hooks and cover in openposition, the cards being removed.

Figure '7 is a sectional View taken on the plane of the line 1 1 ofFigure 6.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the plane of the line 8 8 ofFigure 6.

Figure 9 is a side elevational view partly broken away of anotherembodiment of my invention, the card holder and the cover being shown inopen position. y

Figure 10 is a top plan View of the device'of Figure 9 but showing thecard holder in closed position with the cover open.

Figure 11 is a fragmentary side view of the device of Figure 9 with thecover closed.

Referring rst to the embodiment shown in Figures 1 through 8, the indexcomprises a rectangular shallow box-like base or support I including aor portion 2, front wall 3, rear wall 4, and side walls 5 and 5, theside wall 6 being cut away as indicated at l. A rectangular shaped cover8 having an inwardly extending ange portion 9 along one side edgethereof is hingedly connected to the base by a rod I0 passing throughbrackets ll on the cover and through thev side walls 5 and 6 of thebase, so that the covermay swing into closed position in opposedrelation to and above said base and spaced from said rod at the sidethereof opposite said base and the cover may swing open into a positionapproximately perpendicular to said base.

A group of superimposedcards or sheets i2 arey connectedanddisconnected, at will, from the base by means of a holder or binder.This holder comprises a rod I3 formed of a single .length of wire orother stock material which is bent at each end at right angles to thebody of the rod forming highly arched card retaining ring-like hookportions lll. The rod is hingedly connected to the floor of the base ata point remote from the hinge rod l0 by upstruck bearing lugs I5 andintermediate its ends the holder is bent to form a V-shaped portion I6.Lugs Il hold the rod against longitudinal movement. The bent portionsand hooks i4 at the ends of the rod are sufficiently long to permit thehooks Vto be swung forward of the base a considerable distance away fromthe connection between the cards can readily, andeaslybe connected to.;and

substantially the same.

disconnected from the base. The hooks are also adapted to be swungrearwardly of the base to a substantially upright position partlyencircling the hinge rod of the cover` as shown in Figures 4 and 5 sothat the centers of swing of the cover and of the cards aresubstantially the same. When the hooks are in this encircling position,their free ends are. sufficiently close to the hinge rod to fpreventdisplacement-or shifting of the cards.

The cards are supported 01T of the floor 1of the base at the rear byspaced upstandingcurved portion |61 of the rod I3 and at the frontby anupstruck elongated flange portion '18,

The cover is suitably biased 'to raised or-open position as by atensioned coiled spring I9 disposed about the hinge rod :mand having onearm extending beneath and bearing against the adj acent portion of thecover and heldlagainst displacement by a clipmember 2|, and having fitsother Varm 22 extending over and bearing against the holder I3 'at itsoffset vportion I6 whereby the holder is yieldingly held against hingingmovement and is also held against lateral displacement.

The lcards are of :a width to -t within the side walls of the base and'each card is provided with spaced perforations 23 at one-end thereof.As shown in Figure 2, the vedge portions of the cards along one sidethereof are cut back from their rear edges as indicated at I2', inamounts "which progressively increase from the'uppermost to thelowermost card, such edge portions thus being of differentandprogressively vdecreasing .lengths with the shortest of such Vedgeportion on the bottom card.

When it is desired to connect a card to or disconnect a card from thebase, the base is tilted slightly to permit the rear endvof the card ,orpile of cards to move outwardly free of the Yfront wall ofthe base, orafinger may be inserted through an opening 2' in the floor rof ythe baseand the card or pile pushed outwardly. A portion of the holder, suchas'one of the `hooks I4, is then grasped and the holder moved forwardlyby a swinging or rolling motion until the Afree ends of the hooks arecarried'around and face upwardly as shown in Figures 1 and 3. When-in-this position, these free ends are considerably removed from thecoverso that there is plenty of clearance therebetween so .that theperforations in the cards may be easily slipped over said ,free ends.When 'the :hooks -are :in `this open position, the opposite end of 'thecard `or pile of cards connected :thereto :rests `on the front wall ofthe base asshown in Figure 1 .thereby permitting ready access toandmanipulation 'of such cards by the fingers of the user of the device.

After the card or cards vare thus mounted on the hooks, the holder isswung rearwardly again until the hooks partly encircle 'the rod AIIJ fasshown in Figures 4 and -.5 'whereby the Acenters of Athe "swing of thecards and of the cover `are It will also kbe noted that the hooks'arelsuiliciently closeto the hinge rod I0 to prevent any displacement orfshifting 'ofthe cards.

The cards are also slightly less in width than :the flanged cover 8 sothat'when the latter is in its .lowered or closed position it will'substanvtially enclose the stack of cards as Shown in Figure 2. Theflange 9 on the cover formsa guiderail for a :slider 24 which has yashoe 25 :engaging said vguiderail whereby the lslider fis vslidablymounted fonth'e 'guiderail :for movement .4 lengthwise of the cover. Theslider is provided with an upper portion which extends inwardly over thetop of the cover and terminates in a pointer or indicator 26. The slideralso has a lower inwardly extending portion or selector 21 which isadapted for selective coaction with the cutaway edges of cards I2 andwhich when the cover is closed lies at a level slightly below the bottomcard of the stack, the cards being supported on the portions I6' andflange I8 off of the floor of the base so that the selector may .slidefreelyunderneath the edges of the cards without interference. Thepointer 26 is adapted .to cooperate with a suitable index '28 such, foraexample, as .the letters of the alphabet, which is -applied toandvextends longitudinally of the coveradjacent the path of movement ofsaid pointer. The cards also preferably bear index characters which fromthe top to the bottom of the stack, respectively, correspond to thecharacters of the index A28 on the cover, that is, in the deviceillustrated, the uppermost card bears the letter A, the next card theletter B and so on to the lowermost card which bears the letters X, Yand Z. A suitable handle 29 may be provided on vslider 24 to facilitatemovement of the latter. Means may also :be provided to yieldingly andreleasably Vhold the slider in adjusted position.

Suitable means is provided for automatically effecting the releasablelocking of the cover 8 vin its lowered or closed position against theaction of the spring I9, upon movement of the cover Ato such position,this means preferably being of such constructionthat the cover mayreadily be released to effect automatic upward or opening movementthereof and of such of the cards I2 as may be operatively connectedthereto by member 24 under the action of spring I9. This mechanism, asshown, comprisesa detent '3| carried by the ange 9 of the cover and aspring biased latch 32 with which said detent coacts. 'The latch 32which has an upper inwardly inclined surface is preferably carried by orformed on the free end of a spring 33 which is 'suitably secured asindicated at 34 at its'other end to kan extension 35 of the floor of thebase. The spring 33 is bowed upwardly midway its ends and extendslongitudinally of the base in a position adjacent and substantiallyparallel to the guiderail 9 of cover 8 when the latter is in its loweredclosed position, and with the latch 32 normally located, under thebiasing action of the spring, in operative relation with respect to thedetent 3| of the cover. 4The free end portion of spring '33 looselyengages a guide slot formed in a struckup end 36 of a member 31 securedto the extension 35 of the iioor of the base adjacent its front end. Theother end 38 of member 31 is also struckup and forms a stop to limit theforward movement of latch 32 when the bowed spring 33 is exeddownwardly.

The selection of a card by the mechanism just described may be brieydescribed as follows: When the cover 8, as shown in Figure 1, is initsraised open position and is then swung down against the action of springI9 to its closed position, the detent 'SI engages the upper inclinedsurface of latch 32 to force the latter outwardly lagainst the action ofspring I9, and after the 4detent has cleared the said inclined surface,the latch snaps into engagement therewith and thus automatically effectsthe locking of the'cover in its 'lowered closed position-as shown inFigure '2. To then effect the opening or separation'of the pile of cardsat any desired point it is merely necessary to adjust the slider 24 tothe proper position on its guiderail 9 and apply a slight downwardpressure to the bowed portion of spring 33. For example, if it isdesired to separate the stack of cards so that the card bearing theletter D will be available for reference to or entry of an item, slider24 is moved on guiderail 9 to a position in which pointer 26 is.directly opposite the letter D of index 28. Pressure is then applied tospring 33 to ex the bowed portion thereof downwardly such an amount asto cause the latch 32 to move forwardly out of engagement with thedetent 3|. The spring I9 will thereupon act automatically to move thecover to its open position shown in Figure 1, and also to move with thecover al1 of the cards which are above the card bearing the letter D" asthe hook 21 of slider 24 is then positioned to engage the edge portionof the card bearing the letter C and said slider therefore servesoperatively to connect the latter card and those above it with thecover. To separate the stack of cards at some other point, the cover ismoved to its closed position, slider 24 is adjusted to proper positionwith respect to index 28 and the cover is again l released by applying adownward pressure to spring 33.

Attention is now invited to the embodiment shown in Figures 9 through11. In this embodiment, the base, cover and index cards all havesubstantially the same form and function and carry the same referencecharacters as in the previous embodiment. The coil spring |9 however hasits arm 22 impinging directly against the oor of the base and is heldagainst displacement by a clip 39.

In this form also a somewhat different form of holder for the cards isused. Here a plate 49 of substantially the Ysame size as the cards I2has one end formed with outstruck lugs 4| which swing around atransverse rod 42 which is positioned adjacent the front wall andsupported by the side walls of the base. A substantially U -shaped linkmember 43 is journalled in instruck lugs 44 on the floor of the basebelow the plate and is provided with a crank arm 45 extending along theplate. The crank arm has an offset portion 46 extending laterally of theside wall and through a notch 4'| in the upper edge of said wall. A ngerpiece 48 is mounted on the outer end of the offset portion to facilitateactuation of the crank arm. A pair of hooks 49 are carried on the innerend of the plate. When the plate and link member are in nested positionas shown in Figure 11, the hooks encircle the hinge bar I0 of the coverthe same as in the previous embodiment.

The cover is yieldingly held in closed position the same as in theprevious form and is raised by means of the spring I9. Upward pressureon the finger piece 48 will lift the link member and the latter willpush the inner end of the plate upwardly to swing said plate around therod 42, the transverse portion 59 of the link member sliding inwardlyalong the plate until it rides over and engages the free edges ofoutstruck lugs 5| formed on said plate whereby the plate is held inupward open position as shown in Figure 9. When in this position, thecards can readily be slipped over the free ends of the hooks 49 forconnecting and disconnecting them from the base.

My invention is also particularly adapted for use with the digitallyoperable mechanism disclosed in Letters Patent No. 2,223,966.

It will readily be seen that the embodiments of the index device shownherein may be modied in numerous ways without departing from the spiritof my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a card index a base, a transverse hinge rod at one end of saidbase in spaced relation thereto, a cover having hinge brackets at oneend pivotally connected to said rod so that said cover may swing intoopen position approximately perpendicular to said base and into closedposition in opposed relation to and above said base and spaced from saidrod at the side thereof opposite said base, a device for releasablyconnecting perforated loose cards to said base including hooks normallyoverlying and partially encircling said rod with their free ends facingdownwardly in closely spaced relation to said rod for providing asubstantially common center of swing for the cards and cover and forpreventing displacement of the cards, said hooks being mounted on saidbase to be swung away from the base and the cover with their free endsfacing upwardly to permit said cards to be slipped thereon.

2. In the card index as defined in claim 1 the addition of a helicalspring for biasing the cover to open position and for yieldingly holdingthe card connecting device in each of its said positions. A

3. In a card index as defined in claim 1 the addition of a common springfor biasing the cover to open position and for yieldingly holding thecard connecting device in each of its said positions.

4. In a card index as defined in claim 1, said device comprising a mainportion pivotally mounted on the base to swing on an axis parallel tothe axis of said rod and having an integral hook at each end thereof andperpendicular thereto and disposed in a plane at right angles to saidrod, said device being so positioned relative to said hinge rod thatwhen said main portion is rotated in one direction the hooks aredisposed remotely from said rod with their free ends exposed and facingupwardly, while when said main portion is rotated in the oppositedirection the hooks overlie and partly encircle the hinge rod.

5. In a card index as defined in claim 4, said main portion between saidhooks being formed with an offset portion, and with the addition of aspring on said transverse rod having opposed arms, one of which biasesthe cover to open position, while the other engages said offset portionfor holding the connecting device in adjusted position.

WILLIAM LANG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 794,035 Monson July 4, 19052,141,761 Pollock Dec. 27, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date1,692 Great Britain 1908

